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R I C H A R D S T O K E R
The composer RICHARD STOKER was born in Castleford, Yorkshire, on 8 November 1938. He composed music from an early age, studying at the Royal Academy of Music in London with Lennox Berkeley, and in Paris as a Mendelssohn Scholar with Nadia Boulanger. He taught Composition at the RAM from 1963 to 1987.His music has been broadcast regularly and performed worldwide. His three-act opera, Johnson Preserv'd, received its world premiere in London in 1967. In the early 1970s he visited New York for the American premiere of his Third String Quartet.
He was introduced to film music writing by Stanley Black, Director of Music of Elstree Studios; he later worked with Philip Martell, Music Director of Hammer Films and Adviser to MCA Films.
His stage and TV credits include Troilus and Cressida (Old Vic), Lysistrata and Galileo (Goldsmiths), Rape of the Belt (RAM), Romeo and Juliet (West End), My Friend - My Enemy (The Place), Zampogna (Tyne Tees), and The Garden Party (Coliseum - danced by Dame Margot Fonteyn, choreographed by Sir Frederick Ashton, designs by Andy Warhol).
His film credits include The End of the Line (BFS), Titanic (Pathe News), Advance Democracy (ACS Productions), Portrait of a Town (Standard Pictures), Forever Joy (Nitrame Films), and the 1995 production of In Control (Movie Craft).
Richard Stoker has appeared on BBC1, Channel 4, BBC Radio 3, Radio 4 and Radio London. As a pianist and keyboard player he has performed at the South Bank, on Radio 3 and on BBC1. His music is recorded on many albums and a CD of his Clarinet Sonatina was released by Chandos in early 1994. More recently, a CD of piano works was recorded by Eric Parkin (Priory).
Richard Stoker edited Composer magazine for eleven years. His first volume of autobiography, Open Window - Open Door, was published by Regency Press in 1985, and a children's novel, Tanglewood, was published by Merlin Books in 1993.
He belongs to the following organisations: PRS, MCPS, Composers' Guild, APC, RAM Guild (Committee).
His recent commissions include a Chinese Canticle for Inter-Artes, a Piano Sonata (No.2) for the concert pianist Eric Parkin, and a Partita for mandolin and harp.
Richard Stoker is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music (FRAM) and an Associate of the Royal College of Music (ARCM).
He has entries in Grove's Dictionary of Music, Grove's Dictionary of Opera, Debrett's People of Today, Contemporary Composers, Oxford Dictionary of Music, Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians, The Knowledge, TV Composer Guide, International Who's Who of Music and Musicians, Who's Who in the World, and Men of Achievement.
Information supplied by Gill Stoker gps5@tutor.open.ac.uk
